Dengue-prone places identified for intensive action

Close on the heels of asking coconut vendors and puncture shop owners to ensure that water does not stagnate in abandoned coconut shells and tyres, the Corporation has now intensified its drive against mosquitoes by concentrating its resources on dengue-prone pockets.

According to City Health Officer P. Aruna, the Corporation has identified nearly a dozen residential localities, from where more than five dengue cases were reported in the last six months.

In mapping the dengue-prone areas, the civic body collated data from private health establishments and also the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital.

And the data has revealed that the affected pockets are spread across the five zones (See graphic for details).

To the affected areas, Dr. Aruna says, the Corporation has sent its health workers to carryout the source reduction work – destroy mosquito breeding places. Health workers and those working on malaria control measures will talk to the residents of the affected pockets to educate them on means to be adopted to bring down the mosquito population.

If the workers find open water containers, they destroy those or ask the residents to empty the containers within a seven-day period. They also educate the residents saying that the aedes aegypti mosquito that transmits dengue breeds on fresh water and not on sewage. “This is the misconception that the health workers try to remove.”

Apart from educating residents in the door-to-door campaign, the Corporation also conducts fogging and anti-larval activities.

Dr. Aruna says that the Corporation has also deputed eight teams of two workers each to the dengue-prone areas to ensure that there are no houses or containers with larvae.